Birth of Ibn Rajab in Baghdad, Rabi' I 736

The Hanbali hafiz Zayn al-Din Abu al-Faraj Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Hasan al-Salami al-Baghdadi, known as Ibn Rajab after the laqab of his grandfather Abd al-Rahman, was born in Baghdad in Rabi' al-Awwal 736 AH, by agreement of the sources consulted by the editor of Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam; Ibn Hajar dated the birth to 706, which the editor considers a copyist's slip. ^{1 2}

He came from a house of learning: his grandfather Rajab ibn al-Hasan was heard reading in Baghdad — Ibn Rajab says of him, 'hadith was read to my grandfather Abu Ahmad Rajab ibn al-Hasan several times in Baghdad while I attended, aged three, four and five' — and his father, the shaykh Shihab al-Din Ahmad, had heard from the masters of Baghdad. ³